Ocean Thousand, Mountain Thousand
by Tsume Yuki
Summary: Death couldn't allow his Mistress to remain in that world, not when Hariel Lily Potter had broken the entity's rules by surviving the killing curse twice. Shisui Uchiha isn't sure what to make of his latest assignment; watching over the newest and perhaps wealthiest foreigner to join Konoha yet. He just knows she's rather nice to look at. Eventual ShisuixFemHarry
1. Prologue

**Ocean Thousand, Mountain Thousand**

_x_

**Prologue**

Hariel Lily Potter considered herself to be a rather pleasant human being. True she had her faults, but she did try her very best to make sure that she was a nice person, that she did the right thing.

That was why, when stood face to face with Death and told that she could only return to the land of the living for three days, she'd nodded her head and accepted her lot. Death had promised to drop her into a new world afterwards, but should she try to remain in her own, well, the consequences would be unpleasant.

All the entity had done was told her to pack up everything she owned and be ready for a long journey.

And Death had meant everything.

All her gold, the Potter and Black armoury, their libraries, the artefacts, the jewels and jewellery. All that and more had been hastily stuffed into the trunk she'd bought specifically for that reason. Even the Hallows had been packed, considering the fact they'd returned to her come new day no matter how many times she threw them away.

She'd left letters for all of her friends, explaining the situation before walking through the secret passageway in Kings Cross Station.

Platform nine and three quarters looked strange in early May, when there were no Hogwarts students boarding or departing the Hogwarts Express. Empty. And though it wasn't white, it was clear to see why Death had chosen this as his send off point for her.

The being, clad in a ragged dark robe stood before her, one skeletal hand held out in an offering. Sucking in a deep breath, Hariel Lily Potter placed her own within Death's grasp, wondering if perhaps this was how her long dead ancestor had felt when he'd done just as she was doing.

And then the world went white.

* * *

><p>Running a hand down the side of his face, Hiruzen Sarutobi stared back at the foreigner that stood before him. He loved Jiraiya, his white haired student was almost like a son to him, but the man brought more problems to the table then he knew what to do with.<p>

Well, that wasn't exactly true.

This problem had actually come from the toads.

Apparently, Jiraiya had been summoned to their realm a week ago. The toads had then presented him with the girl now stood before his desk, though they refused to say where she came from, only that she could no longer remain at home. That and the fact she meant no harm whatsoever to Konoha, was in no way a spy or a threat to the village. If they were to be believed, she was the equivalent of a seal master in her homeland.

Jiraiya had tested the girl on their way to the village, and in his report had confined that she was perhaps better than he.

So while Hiruzen was still a bit suspicious, he wasn't going to outright protest against this female joining the village. It was obvious from her form -that while toned- she'd never had any shinobi training. The scars and build that came from such a thing just weren't present. That and she was brining her family's wealth into the village. Which was nothing to scoff at. She was perhaps the richest heiress in the country right about now.

Still though, it was obvious that she was foreign, from her looks, to her accent, right down to her name. He already knew that with her being backed by Jiraiya's summons, he had to at least give Hariel Lily Potter a chance to prove herself worthy of remaining in the village.

So he'd have her on Grade 3 ANBU surveillance. The lowest level, but seeing as she was a seal master, it was best to be cautious. She'd be brought in at the first sign of a problem. It was all in the contract she was currently reading over before him, a little frown on her lips.

"So you want twenty percent of my total monetary wealth, ten percent because that's the usual fee and the other ten because I'm classed as a possible threat due to the whole sealing thing, for me to come live here?"

The young woman tapped a thin finger against the side of her cheek before nodding slowly.

"I suppose that's acceptable. And I have five years on probation when it comes to selling my seals, in which a certified seal maker of level six or above will check over my work before the sale and you'll get forty percent of that? I suppose that's fair too, considering after I'll be able to keep selling freely and will have built up a bit of a reputation. And the ANBU surveillance doesn't sound awful..."

Trailing off, the green eyed lady gave a low nod of her head, twirling the pen between her fingers before signing across the dotted line.

"I'm in."

* * *

><p><strong>So, this brings me up to 50 fanfictions that are currently on my account. No more until I finish one, I swear. <strong>

**Thoughts?**

**Tsume  
>xxx<strong>


	2. Chapter 1

**Ocean Thousand, Mountain Thousand**

_x_

**Chapter 1  
><strong>_May 17th_

"Ma'am?"

.

Shisui Uchiha wasn't sure what to make of Konoha's newest civilian. Well, he could draw conclusions from her appearance and what little he'd seen of her personality so far, plus what he'd heard from the rest of the ninja -both Uchiha and otherwise- around the village, but personally, he'd like to come to his own conclusions. The fact that both Fugaku and the Third had sent him to gather covert information on her just helped him in that regard.

And so, he'd enacted his plan, simply tailing the young woman down the street, watching her go. But he noticed every set of eyes that landed on her, every set of words that concerned her.

It wasn't surprising the young woman had attracted a lot of attention as a result of her appearance. She wasn't the traditional beauty, regardless of her pitch black hair. In fact, appearance wise she was perhaps the most physically different human being that Shisui had ever seen. Even amongst the Elemental Nations, there were common features between them, features that clearly said their countries lay close together.

Thus, it was inexplicitly obvious that the Lady Potter was not from the Elemental Nations, but somewhere far beyond that.

Her eyes were wider, bigger with more or a rounded shape to them than the almond he was used to seeing. Her eyes appeared to have a natural heavy lidded look to them, something he knew for a fact most noble women would go through questionable surgery for. Not to mention the fact that the young woman's eyes were the brightest green any had ever seen, in a shade that'd never appeared before in Konoha. Her nose was also different, narrower with the bridge higher than anything he was used to before. The nostrils were less visible, with less of a flare at the base. Her lips too were less open than on any other female he'd seen, thinner but longer, as if to accommodate for the fact her chin was more of an oval shape and her jaw angular. There was less fat on her cheeks as well, the bone width thinner and giving a far more delicate look.

Yes, it was most certainly easy to tell that Hariel Lily Potter was foreign, everything from her appearance to her name all but screamed that in your face. Shisui had already gone over the folder that the Third had given him, evaluating all the material that their psychoanalysis had gathered, along with the Third's own opinions.

The young woman hadn't seemed upset about losing ten percent to the village after it had been cleared up that ten percent was the set rate that every immigrant to the village paid.

The extra ten percent, which should have been fifteen before the girl had bartered it down, was because she was a security risk. It was meant to cripple those possible threats that came to the village without seeming to. Get them to invest a good deal of their money in the village, and they'd be hesitant to leave as a result. It was all about setting up roots, along with psychological warfare that Shisui hadn't bothered to study too much on.

That was more Itachi's thing.

Their price for citizenship was actually the lowest out of all the shinobi villages by five percent. Hell, he'd heard Kumo's price was twenty five percent of the immigrants wealth, simply because it was such a defendable location, and they had the most military power. For non-shinobi, the draw of living in such a well protected village outweighed the cost for most. It was certainly one of the safer places to live in regards to bandits.

When it came to potential assets wanting to join, well, Konoha would dig their claws in whatever way they got the chance. They were a military village, and they had to act like it.

All of the Lady Potter's money in bank was now monitored, to ensure it wasn't going anywhere unsavoury. So far so good, she'd only bought a large house in the residential area, along with all the necessities that came with filling the house.

Her psychological report suggested childhood neglect, and some trauma. She had freely admitted to remembering her parents along with several others being killed right before her eyes, so there were some psyche issues that according to the experts, she was dealing with reasonably well. 'Better than Hatake anyway,' they'd muttered.

He had noticed how her eyes scanned the crowd, how sometimes she'd tense up slightly at the sudden movements of the shinobi around them. But it wasn't from nervousness, Shisui knew. Just sudden panic, like a civilian victim of a kunai explosive tag flinching away from sudden flashes of light and loud noises. The psyche experts were right to say trauma.

.

Right now, the newest Konoha citizen was shopping for groceries, having been in the village for a grand three days in total. So far, the ANBU had been reporting that the young woman had been eating takeaway, though she had brought several cook books with her through the use of storage scrolls.

He'd not yet had time to scope out the house like Fugaku had asked of him, seeing as he was first going to try and get the foreigner to invite him to walk her home. Shouldn't be too hard, there were several ways to go about it, most noticeably the one he was currently aiming for.

So far his plan had been working perfectly; he'd positioned himself just in the female's blind spot, appearing to be shopping for a few consumer goods of his own.

Thus, when she stepped back and subsequently into him, Shisui had a very valid excuse to spin around in surprise just in time to catch her just before she lost her balance.

Which brought him to where he was currently, one hand wrapped carefully around the female's wrist and the other on the small of her back. His own shopping was on the floor now, carefully put down -he had eggs in that basket- during his spin while the girl had managed to keep hold of her own, if looking somewhat jostled at the task.

"Ma'am?" He repeated again, watching amusement as her eyes flashed over to look at him and her cheeks pinked.

She straightened up instantly, blushing even more so when Shisui took a second longer than was necessary to release her wrist. They were thin, both her wrists and her fingers. She didn't look like she'd ever been in a fist fight before, but he did notice the scar that ran from her left carpal almost all the way up to her elbow. Jagged knife would with a shaking had, certainly not self inflicted.

Trauma was right. The fact she was dealing as well as she had when she had clearly been put through some form of torture -there were words, cut into the skin on the back of her hand- was a point in her favour certainly.

"Thank you, for the catch that is," the young woman seemed to forcibly beat back her blush, letting out a little sigh before sticking out her right hand in some form of a greeting.

"Hi, I'm Ha- Sorry, Potter Hariel." They must introduce themselves with personal name first, then clan name in her homeland if her stumble was any indication..

"Uchiha Shisui. I'm glad I could just save you a tumble."

Potter gave a wary grin, tucking a strand of wild black hair that'd fallen loose from her bun behind her ear.

"Consider it mission success then."

Did she know about his mission? No, she was too carefree for that, she'd have been offended had she caught him spying. Just a joke then.

"I don't know, can you make it around the store without tripping again?"

Potter's grin widened, even if her cheeks took on a faint pink tint again and she busied herself sorting out her basket.

"I don't know, I'm a trouble magnet, who knows what can happen?"

"Well clearly you haven't had the incredible training I've had then, because I have never tripped over another person. Perhaps I should assist you around the store, to make sure you don't mow down any other citizens."

Potter snorted, raising an amused eyebrow as she cocked her head to a side. As a result of the movement, more wild black hair fell out and Shisui couldn't stop the small smile that formed on his face when the girl's crumpled in annoyance.

"If you'd be so kind then, Hero-boy."

.

Walking around the store with Hariel Potter was an experience. She was just short of being half a foot smaller than him, being 5'4'' to his 5'9'', though he could tell the wild black hair on her head would likely make up an inch or two should it be allowed free of its restraints.

She wasn't afraid to half clamber up the shelves to reach the produce at the top either, right before remembering that she was now being accompanied by someone taller who could in fact reach what she was after. She was small enough that he could actually rest his chin atop her head were he standing behind her.

Potter was also not afraid to interact with the male species, much unlike any other noble woman he'd seen her age before. Most of them had been sheltered by their father's, raised to be ready for a political marriage. Perhaps it was a cultural difference, or perhaps it was just a different in Potter herself.

Regardless, the interaction between them was easy enough and Shisui got a good deal of information. Some stuff he already knew from her file; she was turning eighteen on the last day of July, she was an orphan, and she'd moved to Konoha because it had the reputation of being 'the friendly one' out of all the shinobi villages.

What he managed to pick up in the undertone of her words was that she enjoyed the idea of their being a highly trained fighting force in the village, that she drew safety from this fact. No doubt the torture she'd suffered from at some point had resulted in that impression he'd gotten.

As expected when it came to sharing a different culture, there were some produce she'd never tried, and apparently, there were some desserts didn't have but Potter knew how to make. She'd spent five minutes grumbling under her breath about the significant lack of something known as 'treacle tart' before gathering the ingredients together in order to make some of her own.

She was a pleasant person, friendly enough to greet all the people that talked to her and welcomed her to the village, but clearly cautious at the same time.

It wasn't until they'd both gone through the tills and Potter had looked down at her bags, back up at him, and then at her bags again that Shisui realized her problem. She'd bought far too much for her skinny arms to carry. Her eyes flickered back up to him with a weighing look -for what, Shisui couldn't begin to guess- before a sigh escaped her lips.

"Okay, so what do I have to bribe you with to get your help carrying all this?" Well, she was certainly straight forwards.

Grinning, Shisui looped his arms through a vast majority of the bags, chakra enchanted muscles seeing that they appeared to be nothing more than a collection of feathers instead of groceries.

"Tea maybe? Me, you, and a teahouse tomorrow?" It was always easiest to get information when around food and drink, people relaxed when it came to eating and drinking, it made gathering information so much easier. And he wasn't going to pass up a free cup of tea.

Potter smiled, dipping her head forwards so that the thick bangs that framed her forehead and face hid her eyes from view.

"Thank you. Though I don't know any tea places, so you'll have to come find me tomorrow if you want me to follow through with this."

.

Walking the young woman home, Shisui watched as she took in all the buildings around her, a bemused little smile crossing her lips at some of the sights. She did appear especially awed whenever one of his fellow ninjas passed by, jumping from rooftop to rooftop or running up the sides of the buildings.

Every so often Potter would pause, looking between the streets as if to reorient herself before carrying on forwards. He couldn't blame her, Konoha had been built purposely with winding streets to confuse intruders, so it would take time to begin travelling the streets like a native.

It wasn't until Potter's eyes lit up with recognition that Shisui realized they were already on the street that she lived on. The house, which he'd also seen on the file, wasn't the mansion he'd been expecting upon hearing a super rich heiress was moving to the village.

In comparison to what he'd been picturing, it was actually quite modest, a three story house that was a little bigger than average, looking as if half had first been built when Konoha had, and the rest seemed to be the result of add-on's from decades long past. It was, well, quirky. That was perhaps the best word he could come up with on the spot.

Walking beside the short green eyed girl beside him, Shisui stuck out one leg just to the left ever so slightly.

The result was obvious, Potter let out a cry of shock, flying forwards as she tripped over his foot, even as he effortlessly caught her around the waist while still juggling the grocery bags he held.

"If you really can't keep walking in a straight line then I guess I'll have to guild you everywhere, and not just to a teahouse tomorrow."

Potter's face shot up to look at him, an offended, but amused smile on her face.

"You tripped me on purpose."

"Can you blame me for wanting to spend more time with you?"

Potter blinked up at him, eyes wide and startled before she gave a nervous laugh.

"Right, okay then."

* * *

><p>Waving to the dark haired male that'd escorted her home, Hariel give Shisui Uchiha a last smile before closing her door.<p>

And then the smile slipped right off of her face.

She wasn't stupid.

Far from it. A nice a guy as he may have appeared so far, but Shisui Uchiha was a ninja. Even if she'd not been in the village all that long, she'd heard of the different clans, the different ninja clans.

The Uchiha name had popped up every now and again as one of the strongest clans. Shisui couldn't be any older than her, but was clearly well trained if his toned form and sharp eyes were anything to go by. That and the comment about his fabulous training, which he'd clearly dropped on purpose.

He was after all, a ninja, and had he not wanted her to know that fact she wouldn't.

She'd not dared to use her wand to covertly lighten her groceries, not when his sharp eyes were still observing her. If it got out she had magic, then they'd be using her for everything and that was not a life she wanted.

Hariel wasn't an idiot, she was in a military village.

The money she'd paid to join, well most of that would be used to further the protection of the village, and she had no trouble paying for something like that. She wanted something close to a quiet life here. She was not a ninja, she wasn't trained to fight at the speeds they were, so there was no way she could ever go out on the missions she'd heard tales of.

Not that she would, she'd directly caused one death already and that was one more than she'd ever wanted.

But she didn't mind being part of the defence of her new village. If that meant using runes to come up with several new defensive wards for the village, then she'd happily take a crack at it. And maybe make a Marauders Map for the village too, that'd come in handy without doubt.

Not to mention she had promised to pay for a drink of tea tomorrow for the Uchiha she'd met.

But first, she had to put her groceries away.

* * *

><p><strong>Right, so Shisui's collecting information, Harry's determined to hide her magic and it's just over two months till the Uchiha massacre (I've guessed July 20th with Shisui's death date -which is obviously not going to happen here- on the 17th)<strong>

**Shisui here is 18, will be 19 in October and Harry is 17 soon to turn 18. I know Shisui seems a little old considering Itachi's his best bud, but, reative licencing? (Don't kill me, we never get an official age?)**

**Thoughts?**

**Tsume  
>xxx<strong>


End file.
